


It's Only A Joke

by Zelda_Legends



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Dimensional Links - Freeform, Gen, Humor, Humorous Ending, I think that's about it, New Author, Not sure if I'm doing this right, Pranks and Practical Jokes, dimensional Links really needs its own tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23513131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelda_Legends/pseuds/Zelda_Legends
Summary: Thunderstorms? Boring, Lore decides. Dusk, Wind, and the Four are all off finding Realm in Lore's Hyrule, while the rest of the group is chilling at Lore's house. Deciding to do something to change the boring atmosphere, Lore and the others come up with their most mischievous plan yet.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	It's Only A Joke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChangelingRin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangelingRin/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Dimensional Links](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194783) by [ChangelingRin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangelingRin/pseuds/ChangelingRin). 



> Do not read this if you haven't read ChangelingRin's Dimensional Links. It will not make sense!

It was raining.

Full-on pouring and Lore was miffed about it. They couldn't go outdoors and _do_ something if it was raining. And yet, no matter how hard he prayed, no matter how hard he imagined it would stop, no matter how hard he stared at the sky, it just wouldn't. Stop. Raining.

Lore scowled. This was a problem, he decided. Now as to what _he_ could do about it... Well, his brain always ended up with unwanted feedback. It was really annoying. Usually, Wind would pull out his handy baton, do a thing, and the rain would go away, but nothing seemed to go according to plan. Wind happened to be on the other squad; That was the 'find Realm' squad. He, much to his annoyance, was stuck in the 'stay here and wait for them' squad.

This, Lore mused, was a rather boring squad.

Which, of course, meant that he had to do something about it.

"Okay!" He announced suddenly, startling the rest of the group effectively enough that they all paused in what they were doing.

(For the interested, Speck was in his own corner reading a book. Steam and Sketch were in the middle of laying out a design for their self-sustaining lantern idea. Gen was playing a game of scrabble with Green, Red, and Vio. Mask and Blue were coming up with their next prank move while Ocarina was taking notes on his younger-but-older self. Shadow was in Dusk's, well, shadow, and probably having a heated insult battle with Midna. But Dusk, Wind, and the Four were all on the 'find Realm' squad.)

"We are going to have to do something about this." Lore informed, gesturing dramatically at the window, and where the rain splatted against it with _plink_ and _plonk_ noises quite frequently.

"Wind's with the others," Speck said, not even sparing a glance in Lore's direction, and eyes still staring at the words on the page. "so..."

"I know that." Lore dismissed. "But, we could always go outside in the rain."

"Lore that's a terrible idea." Gen scolded. "You do realize we could get sick, right?"

"That's right." Vio agreed. "Being outside during a rainstorm is a really serious danger to a person's health. There is a 75% chance that we will all catch a cold of some variety and a 40% chance that we would catch the flu. If we all got said viruses, then there is a 23% chance that at least a few of us would get pneumonia. Pneumonia is a very dangerous infection that affects the respiratory system of any organism that gets it. Pneumonia inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs. The lungs may fill with liquid or pus, causing cough with phlegm, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing."

Everyone stared at Vio and blinked awkwardly.

"What?" Vio asked, after noticing the uncomfortable amount of stares he was receiving.

"Moving on." Lore said, reclaiming everyone's attention. "There is always a chance that we wouldn't get sick."

"That's unlikely and too risky." Gen declined. "I am not going to deal with nemoney-whatever. That doesn't sound like something a regular potion could fix. Heck, I don't want to deal with any colds either. As medic and co-leader, I veto the idea."

"But-!"

Gen gave him one of the most effective glares Lore'd ever seen. Well, from Gen anyway. As much as Lore wanted to protest, he knew that Gen had a valid point.

"Fine." Lore huffed, crossing his arms. "Spoil-sport."

Gen visibly relaxed and sighed. "You can play with us, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Lore sagged his arms and gave their game a brief once over. "I just... no offense to you guys or anything, but it's kinda boring in here."

"Some taken, but what else did you have in mind?" Ocarina answered. "Going outside is clearly off-limits, and we've already established that Wind isn't here to help."

"Well, that is why I brought it up." Lore admitted. "I've been racking my brain for answers, but I haven't come up with anything. I was hoping we could go outside, or maybe you guys would have an idea?"

"Oh." Was the collective response, or some variation thereof. The room was silent for a few moments before Blue spoke up.

"We could go prank the old lady next door. I've got a great idea that we could-"

"Blue," Green said, sounding like he'd said this on multiple occasions and was thus very practiced. "that involves going outdoors. We've discussed this. Not to mention, we don't just go pranking random elderly ladies. It's impolite and disrespectful."

"Yeah Blue!" Red accused with a pout.

"Sorry..." Blue attempted, and the room went quiet again.

After a few moments of contemplation, Mask was the next one to pipe up. "Well, if we can't prank the neighbor, then we could prank the rest of the guys."

Lore's ears twitched.

"What do you mean?" Steam tilted his head.

"Well, we could set up some sort of contraption that would trigger when someone opens the door. And when the guys come back..." Mask let his sentence trail off, leaving it open for the others to fill in.

"...Mask?" Lore addressed.

"Yeah?"

"...That's BRILLIANT!"

"Uh, thanks?"

"No, really. That would be so hilarious." Lore continued. "If Sketch and Steam could work on a way to make it trigger only when the door is open... Mask, you are a genius."

"Mask, what did you do?" Green asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. But, on the bright side, at least he doesn't seem bored anymore." Mask replied with a shrug.

"Guys! Time for our best prank yet!" Lore exclaimed with a slightly concerning grin on his face.

"Wait... what's goin' on?" A somewhat bewildered Speck asked from in the corner, lifting his head up from the book he was reading.

Apparently, he hadn't been paying much attention, being so engrossed in his novel. This wouldn't be such a big problem, Speck decided, if he could actually pay attention to his surroundings while reading. Now, looking up from his book and seeing Lore with that mischievous air about him, left him in an uncomfortable situation. What was going on? Speck had tuned out everyone as soon as Vio started going on about whatever pneumonia was.

In short, Speck was very confused.

"We are going to prank the guys." Red chirped happily. Then he frowned. "I hope they don't get mad at us."

"Well, Dusk is with them. Even if the others get mad, he'll calm 'em down." Lore pointed out with a hand.

"But-"

"Now, Mask and Blue you shall be with me on planning the pranking contraption." Lore said. "Green, Vio, and Red, you guys will help construct. Steam and Sketch, you guys figure out where to put everything to make it all to work only when the door is opened. Gen, you can help Speck with setting it up." His logic was that because Speck was the smallest, and Gen was the tallest, it evened out. "Ocarina... you can be with me too. I hate separating you from yourself."

"You do realize how little sense that makes to the average onlooker." Blue frowned.

"I'm aware." Lore said flatly. "Good thing we aren't the average onlooker."

"...that's true." Blue nodded.

* * *

_"Oh come on! It was getting good. You just_ _**had** _ _to go to the other group."_

_"BLUE!"_ _**smack!** _

"I can't believe he's gotten so far." Wind muttered.

" **We think, knowing Realm, that you're probably wrong in believing so.** " The Four answered conversationally.

"That's not reassuring." Wind frowned, looking over Lore's map once again.

" **Can we see?** " The Four asked.

"I guess." Wind shrugged, handing the map to the Four.

_"Try to find the most impossible place to get to." The red member contributed to their hivemind._

_"I know that... I'm looking." The green member answered back._

_"Hey! Look over there!" The purple member pointed out. "Over by the graveyard. See that cave. There's no way to get to it without... a hookshot? Maybe?"_

_"I mean... I mean, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a hookshot." The blue member reasoned._

_"Worth a shot." The green member conceded._

" **Let's check by the graveyard.** " The Four said, and so-saying, took off sprinting in that direction.

Wind glanced down at Dusk who was currently a wolf and raised a questioning eyebrow. Dusk, in turn, looked up and did the approximate of a shrug in this form. This translated to _'might as well'_ in Wind's head. It's not like he had any better ideas. Dusk had lost Realm's scent a while back, meaning that teleportation magic had something to do with it. He only stayed a wolf now, so he could know if they were getting close. Perhaps, by the goddesses, they'd find his scent again.

All they could do was look and pray that he was still in Hyrule somewhere.

* * *

Back in Lore's house, things had gotten a bit hectic.

"Finally!" Blue suddenly shouted. "I mean, really, you skipped over the part where Vio dropped the scissors on his toe."

"Seriously!" Green threw his arms up in exasperation. "How many times Blue? STOP. BREAKING. THE WALLS!"

Behind him, Vio and Red had tackled him to the ground and slapped him upside the head.

"Why exactly?" Mask's eyebrows inched up. "I mean, I'm all for dumping water on them... but explain to me why we need to put kumquats in the water too?"

"Because!" Lore blurted, sounding very much like Mask was crazy for asking. "They've never had kumquats, the traitors. They need to."

"But, you do know that you could just give them kumquats with lunch or whatever, right?"

"Well, that wouldn't cause any chaos." Lore explained. " _Xelce-Ai ta nimgak shoac!_ "

"Well, yes but..."Mask began, and then stopped himself. Because, if they could add more chaos, why not?

"Fine. Okay, what else." Mask pursed his lips in thought.

"Well, for this, we're going to need rope, a helicopter, glue, and paper."

"..." Mask blinked at his co-leader. "Uh, what even is a helicopter?"

"Never mind that." Lore flapped a hand dismissively. "Let's just do it without."

"Oh boy." Mask gulped.

Blue groggily made his way back to Lore and Mask.

"Hey!" Blue snapped. "I'm not groggy!"

" _ **BLUE!**_ "

* * *

"Okay." Dusk began, having changed back into his Hylian form. " _How?_ "

Realm just shrugged and clambered down from the cliff using the rope that the Four had with them.

"You don't have a clawshot or anything of the sort. Not to mention, that there would be nothing to grab onto even if you did! So... how...?" Wind spluttered.

"You say that like I had control over it." Realm said bluntly.

Wind opened his mouth, then realized he didn't have anything to say to that and shut it.

"And I thought you knew about my magic Problem." Realm tilted his head.

"Well, yes. But that doesn't make it any more believable." Wind retorted.

Realm shrugged again.

"Look, let's just go back to the guys now, okay?" Dusk sighed.

"Uh, well..." Realm started and looked incredibly sheepish while doing so. "I may have lost my shield."

Wind and the Four facepalmed themselves and Dusk just sighed again.

"When did you last have it?"

* * *

If it was at all possible, the chaos in Lore's house doubled.

"I'd say tripled," Blue said with wide eyes as he scanned the house.

" _Blue..._ " Green growled. Immediately, Red, Vio, and Mask all tackled Blue and rendered him unconscious.

"Honestly, will he ever learn?" Green muttered. Red placed a hand on his comrade's shoulder consolingly.

"I'm sure he'll come around eventually." He smiled.

"I hope you're right Red." Green sighed and forced a smile for his sibling's sake.

"Little bit to the right," Sketch advised, pointing and squinting at the top of the door. "okay...stop! No, slightly to the left now. ... Perfect!"

"That was a hassle and a half," Gen muttered and helped Speck off of his shoulders.

"It'll be worth it. Trust me." Lore winked and left with a 'tally-ho' presumably to go bother someone else.

"I still can't believe I willingly associate with him." Gen shook his head in disbelief and moved on to the next project.

"Hey, Speck?" Vio called from across the room. "Here's that rope. Mind tying it to the door handle?"

"I guess not." Speck decided and calmly walked over to retrieve said rope.

"So, what's next?" Gen asked a nearby Mask.

"Uh, okay! So, once Vio, Green, and Red finish that-"

"We finished!" Red announced.

"Well, the paper balls in that bucket by Green and them, needs to be tied to the other end of that rope, and placed up there on that cabinet." Mask pointed to Speck who just finished tying the rope to the door handle. "Er, is that right Steam?"

"Yeah."

"Good. So, yeah. Go get 'em." Mask then jogged off to Lore - wherever Lore was.

"What am I doing?" Gen groaned.

"I think you're helping us prank the rest of the guys," Ocarina answered.

"Perfect." Gen rolled his eyes and set off towards the next task.

"I hope he's not mad at me." Ocarina sweatdropped.

"No, he's not," Speck assured him. "He's just... losing his mind, I think."

"Oh, okay." Ocarina sighed, visibly relieved.

"I'm honestly quite surprised that hasn't happened already." Sketch frowned.

"Yeah... huh." Ocarina shrugged and walked off after his other-self.

As much as they annoyed each other, there was just something about being separated that put Ocarina on edge. If something happened to his younger-but-older self, Ocarina would feel somewhat responsible, but also that would happen to him so... it was a bit unnerving. Nobody could really blame him.

"Speck? Could you hand me the other end of that rope?" Gen asked, balancing the bucket on his left arm and pointing with his right.

"Sure," Speck said and handed his co-leader said rope.

"Thanks."

* * *

" **Just when we thought you couldn't surprise us more.** " The Four shook their head(s) in bewilderment.

Realm shrugged with an apologetic grimace.

"You've gotta have _some_ idea of how your shield got there of all places." Wind accused with a scowl.

"Magic?" Realm half-smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood. He was an optimist and that was his job. Don't judge him.

Wind just sighed and shook his head.

For the interested, Realm's shield had gotten lost in the basement of Sahashrala's old hideout in the desert.

"Just... grab it and let's go." Dusk sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I agree with that plan." Wind nodded remorsefully.

"...sorry?" Realm tried.

* * *

"There! Perfect! This is going to be _zingama_!" Lore declared.

"Uhh, whatever you said, I'm sure I agree wholeheartedly," Blue smirked.

"EXACTLY!" Lore beamed. "So, everyone, to the kitchen."

"There's only one room Lore." Gen frowned.

"Over here, silly." Lore then promptly ducked behind the counter with his head peeking out from behind and staring at the door.

"Ah, I see."

The rest of the Links lined up against the wall and crouched down, all being able to see the door pretty clearly.

"Now, all we have to do is wait." Lore said, and so-saying relaxed against the wall.

"Question is how long." Green frowned.

"That, my friend, I cannot answer. And by that, I mean as long as we need to." Lore answered.

"Oh boy," Red said, clearly still worried that the others would take this personally.

"Red, think of it this way." Mask began. "You only tease the ones you love so... they'll know we still care about them. I'm sure they'll understand it was a joke."

"Positive?" Red whimpered.

"One-hundred percent." He guaranteed the colorful Link.

"Okay." Red sighed and tried to reassure himself.

* * *

"I'm surprised we made it here without you getting lost again." Wind stated as he put away his Wind Waker.

"Honestly... so am I, but here we are." Realm said, nodding at the door happily to himself.

There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone just stared at the door.

"Are we gonna go in or-"

"Yeah... It's just. I don't know something smells off." Dusk frowned, cutting off a confused Wind.

" **Must be that you still haven't been able to get over the fact that Realm didn't get lost.** " The Four mused.

"Maybe..." Dusk started hesitantly. "Eh, it's probably nothin'. Go ahead."

"Okay." Realm shrugged.

It was a strange thing, opening the door was. A completely harmless act, and yet... water filled with kumquat slices and juice immediately poured down on the poor brunet's head. It was not, by any means, what he'd been planning on happening.

"Woah..." Wind said, wide-eyed and mouth agape.

It summed up everyone's thoughts quite nicely though.

"I... must admit. I was not expecting this." A very wet and rather sticky Realm spoke up. "Not in the slightest."

" **Our bets on Lore.** " The Four said, each member raising a finger in unison.

"Probably." Wind sighed, running a hand through his bangs.

"Come on." Dusk shook his head and moved up along-side Realm, in doing so he pushed open the door more than it was already.

While this too was a normal course of action, it didn't trigger a normal reaction. Paper balls, varying in color and size were dumped on top of the duo, and very nearly Wind too. Sticky paper clumps.

"Right..." Dusk cringed. "Because that's normal."

" **Our bets on Mask.** " The Four contributed from the back.

Dusk took in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. Shaking his head, Realm took a few steps forward... only to trip on a rope. Wind took a few steps forward and took in his surroundings. Everything seemed pretty normal. Except for the lack of people in sight. The Four entered shortly after and closed the door behind them. Frowning, Wind was about to help Realm up, only for the lights to go out. With a startled yelp, Wind fell on top of Realm who was halfway through the process of getting up. The brunet fell back down with a muffled _oof_. Dusk, thanks to his wolf side, was still able to see the dark outlines of furniture and people in front of him. He squinted around the room. Where was everyone? Wind managed to stand followed shortly after by a harrassed-looking Realm. Dusk took a few cautious, measured steps forward. Nothing.

"Just.. be careful guys." He advised, having begun to catch on to what was happening.

"Yeah." Wind huffed.

After taking a few more careful steps forward, Dusk ended up triggering yet another booby trap. A laundry basket dropped from the middle of the ceiling directly onto Realm.

"Why me?" Realm groaned, sounding very much like he was just gonna give up on this 'cautious' nonsense. It wasn't helping at all anyways.

"Goodness gracious," Dusk mumbled under his breath.

Realm pulled the laundry basket off of his head and was very disappointed because apparently, the basket wasn't empty. His whole face was covered in a thick, jelly-like substance. Slime.

"The next time I see a chuchu, is the time when I ask Blue for his hammer." Realm decided.

The time the Four finally started walking forwards was when half their collective got their feet stuck in a ludicrous amount of bubble gum. The other two went sprawling and massive headaches were not uncommon.

"I'll get them." Realm informed the rest.

Wind, after much struggle, finally managed to get the light on.

"There we go." But, when he turned around the Four were still disconnected and Realm was nowhere to be seen. "REALM!"

Silence.

* * *

Realm, meanwhile, found himself on an island in the middle of a lake. Granted, it was one he was very unfamiliar with, but an island nonetheless. This, was when Realm officially decided he hated islands.

* * *

" _Perfect._ " Wind groaned as Dusk managed to free the Four and put them back together.

Laughter in the far corner of the room caught their attention.

"That worked so well!" Mask burst out.

"Much better than I thought it would, I'll admit," Green added, still chuckling.

"That!" Lore shouted in laughter. "was the BEST prank yet!"

Dusk waited for the laughter to die down to begin talking. "you do realize that now... we have to go find Realm again?"

"That's the funny part!" Blue agreed with a smirk.

"Lore... this was your idea, wasn't it?" Dusk frowned.

"Actually, it was Mask's." Lore said brightly. "It was so dreadfully boring in here that we just had to do something. And this is what we came up with."

Dusk let out a resigned sigh. "Well, I hope you know this means _you'll_ be the ones looking for Realm."

"...Fair enough." Gen conceded. He _knew_ this wasn't a good idea.

"Awww." Sketch whined. "It was a joke. Besides, this wasn't _my_ idea."

"You were still part of it. It's unfair to us if we have to go back out." Wind grumbled.

"Come on... It was ingenious. You gotta admit." Steam prodded.

" **Yes, it was clever... we suppose, but please. Never do that again.** " The Four submitted, all holding a hand to their head.

"I suppose." Wind sighed.

"It was... creative, but still." Dusk raised a brow at the rest of the group.

An unexpected guest made themself present at that moment. Laughing.

"That was hilarious!" Shadow cried, doubled over. "I'm glad I was in your shadow. Not only did I avoid it, but I got a front-row seat."

Shadow continued cackling for a good five minutes before calming down enough to speak again. "I have to congratulate you Lore and Mask. That was the only thing that you guys have come up with that wasn't idiotic."

"Thanks...?" Mask offered.

"I'm not sure if I should be offended or not." Lore frowned and squinted at Shadow.

"Trust me, you shouldn't." Shadow informed him. "That's the only compliment you'll ever hear me give so... take it."

"Oh, well. Thank you!" Lore grinned.

Dusk sighed and sagged his shoulders. "You still have to go get Realm."

"...Yeah... I know." Lore grumbled.

* * *

"Okay, I'll admit. It's funny now, but then... not really." Wind allowed.

"Yeah!" Realm agreed. "It took me over six hours to get completely free of stickiness."

" **We still can't quite agree with you. Getting unsynchronized is more painful than you might think.** " The Four replied.

"Although it's not something I want to repeat, it was pretty clever, I'll give you that." Dusk smiled.

"Oh!" Wind announced. "I almost forgot. Lore, there's some kumquats in the icebox for you."

"Really?! Thanks!" Lore jumped up and went to go grab them.

Dusk, the Four, and Wind all exchanged glances.

"You know I love these things." Lore said conversationally as he sat down. "There's nothing better than a good kumquat to cheer you up."

The three stayed silent as Lore took a bite.

"I just don't understand why you all don-"

Immediately, Lore jumped up, turned his head and spit out the buttery substance. Dusk, Wind, and the Four all broke down laughing.

"Yuck!" Lore exclaimed. "What's wrong with..."

Lore noticed the insides and scowled. Wax.

" **Good one, Dusk.** "

"You know... this means war?" Lore suddenly said, grinning ever so slightly.

"That was payback." Wind argued, throwing his hands up.

"Mmm-hmm." Lore squinted at them and pursed his lips.

* * *

As Dusk, the Four, and Wind were off looking for Realm again, they came to a cliff where a clawshot was needed. With a huff, Dusk opened the flap of his bag... only to see it filled with toilet paper.

"LORE!!!!!"

  
  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> There we go! My first fanfic is an inspired work. the majority of my books will be like this one - Inspired by ChangelingRin's amazing book! Thanks, Changeling for your writing!


End file.
